ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday decided to conduct an internal audit of the land directorate following a surprising move in which the deputy director (land) was removed from his position.

Meanwhile, the management also repatriated Sardar Asif to his parent department upon completion of his six-year deputation period. Moreover, deputy director land Nazir Ahmed has been removed from his position and directed to report to the Human Resource Department (HRD). He was replaced by Assistant Director Riaz Khan, who was serving as the deputy director law. Sources said that an officer from Punjab was likely to be appointed as the DC CDA on deputation basis.

Sources said that CDA Chairman retired Lt Sohail Ashraf and Member Estate Muhammad Zaman Watto were on the same page to get audit of the land directorate as there were several alleged corruption allegations related to the DD land office. The Land Directorate deals with claims of people whose land had been acquired by CDA and who are entitled to get compensation from CDA in the shape of plots and cash. However, this directorate had been in the news for the last two decades mainly for corruption charges and unauthorised allotments.

Many inquiries of alleged fake allotments are underway by CDA and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). On the other hand, this directorate has also failed to clear compensation cases of affected people of several sectors that resulted in adverse possession of the land, hampering development of sectors. Sources said that adverse possession of land is one of the main reasons behind the delay in development of sectors.

Chairman and member estate on same page for audit, says official

Similarly, PAS officer Shakeel Ahmed has been appointed as DG Law Directorate with the instruction of CDA chief to bring improvement in performance of the directorate.

“In law directorate, there is need to check status of stay orders against CDA’s property and plots. Whereas, special focus should be paid to minutely check all decree cases passed by courts related to plots. Decree cases should be thoroughly checked to know if law wing properly purse the case or otherwise. There is also need to check status of the decrees, if any, which were not challenged by CDA in stipulated time before the higher court,” said an official and added that in case it is established that CDA’s law wing’s connivance or negligence is a contributing factor behind the decrees, action should be taken against the responsible.

Meanwhile, sources said that a female officer is going to be appointed as the DG Human Resource Department while changes in Estate Wing of are also on the cards.

Sources quoting the CDA chairman said that he had directed all officers that he would protect them against all challenges and pressure but would not spare any corruption issue.

“Transfer posting is a good step for brining improvement. There is also need of ending culture of dual and multiple charges. Still, many officers are holding dual charges while a number of officers are without any assignment though there were no corruption charges and inquiries against them,” said an official.

He added that the CDA chief should keep an eye on some key directorates where major corruption cases took place in the past such as the engineering wing, estate wing, and the land directorate.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2026